ECONOMY

[highlightrule]The annual Point-in-Time Count finds that since 2010, the number of permanent housing beds has increased and overall homelessness has decreased.[/highlightrule] Click image to download PDF version of the report. Even while Mecklenburg County’s population has grown, a yearly count since 2010 has found declining numbers of people who were experiencing homelessness during a one-night […]

Are Millennials really so different from other generations? When it comes to housing preferences and opinions, the answer seems to be: Yes. And no. A ULI Charlotte survey prepared by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute that was released Thursday of Charlotte region residents asking about views on housing, transportation and community found some commonalities among […]

Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents may be growing weary of the stagnated state of the economy, the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s Annual Survey showed. For more than 30 years the institute has produced an annual survey of Mecklenburg County, primarily with questions from clients such as nonprofit agencies and local governments. But each year the institute includes a […]

For workers in Mecklenburg County, it has become even harder to afford housing, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s latest Out of Reach report. The 2016 report documents the gap between wages and fair market rents (for standard-quality rental units) in communities across the United States.[i] The fair market rent takes into account […]

Although existing entrepreneurial companies in Charlotte are seeing substantial revenue and job growth, an in-depth study of the state of entrepreneurship in Charlotte finds the area dramatically lags benchmark cities in inventions, venture capital and research dollars. The study, the Charlotte Entrepreneurial Growth Report (CEGR), was commissioned by the Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship and […]

Recently the site FiveThirtyEight.com reported that of the largest U.S. metros, only Charlotte’s median income, “experienced a statistically significant decline” in 2013. What’s going on? That statement may signal to the casual reader that wages are sinking in the Charlotte region. In reality, however, that “statistically significant decline” appears to be the result of a […]

An economic meltdown threatens America’s middle class. UNC Charlotte sociologist Scott Fitzgerald’s most recent book, Middle Class Meltdown in America: Causes, Consequences and Remedies, co-authored with Kevin T. Leicht, examines the political, economic and cultural changes that have created today’s situation. Fitzgerald will discuss the issues at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in a free […]

A new data resource about Gaston County is available through online, interactive dashboards. Trends on the county’s demographics, economy, education, health and quality of life are tracked and compared to peer counties as well as state and national figures. This represents a continuing partnership coordinated by Gaston Together and other local Gaston County groups with […]

Charlotte never experienced the dramatic housing bubble seen in other places in the country, but the local market is still under its August 2007 peak as measured by the Case-Shiller Index. Explore our data dashboard (below) to see Charlotte’s highs and lows and how they compared to places like Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco. (Scroll […]

Charlotte’s metro has one of the fastest-growing college-educated populations in the U.S. Where exactly do the educated live in Charlotte? As people with college degrees cluster in metros, what does that mean for rural areas? The number of college-educated adults exceeds 40 percent of the working population in just a handfull of counties across the […]